Original Content Ever More Important to Netflix

Netflix continues to add subscribers to its online streaming service, and it is banking on original content to keep those subs satisfied.

Everett Collection

“House of Cards”

In the U.S., the ranks swelled by 630,000 to 29.8 million, while international subscribers rose by 610,00 to 7.8 million internationally. Both figures were in line with the company’s forecasts, though not at the tip-top of the range. Shares, which have more than doubled in 2013, were down more than 5% after hours. MoneyBeat points out that investors were looking for even more subscriber growth than the top end of the range.

Still, the rising online subscriber tally validates in part Netflix’s bet on original content. The company scored 14 Emmy nominations for “House of Cards,” “Arrested Development” and other shows — the first time an Emmy nod has gone to programming that wasn’t broadcast traditionally over the TV airwaves.

In its earnings statement, Netflix talked up some more original programming coming later this year: a new Ricky Gervais series called “Dark,” a show for teens called “Mako Mermaids,” and an animated “Original” from DreamWorks Animation based on the just-released “Turbo. (That movie had only a so-so opening at the box office.) Netflix said it is also planning to add even more original content to include documentaries and comedy specials, what it called “under-distributed” genre. Netflix said it ordered second seasons for all of its new projects, and would love to do another season of “Arrested Development” if possible.

Original programming is helping to draw distinct lines around in the streaming industry, Netflix says, describing itself, Amazon and Hulu as the new cable-movie channels of the day. It’s also made for some rough-and-tumble rights deals. Out with Nickelodeon and Comedy Central programming, in with Disney and Cartoon Network.